Some Happy Fish
Hey y'all, I snapped this little shot today and wanted to play with giphy, so here's a gif of the fish in my aquaponics system!
There have been many struggles getting the aquaponics system to come into balance, but it seems that I have made it through the start up process and can rest easier that the fish are consistently eating, their water is coming back to the main tank super clean, and the lettuce that I planted are beginning to really thrive!
I know that getting the water balenced in an aquaponics system is a bit tricky, especially if you have a lot of fish in the tank. The more fish you have, the more touchy the water is to changes. Losing a pump can be a real problem with one of these systems.
What kind of fish are you using?
That is very true Amber, the more fish you have the more surface area you need to help convert the solids from the fish poop into useful ions for the plants. There is a couple types of bacteria that do this and work to break down the ammonia to nitrates/nitrites. @robbiolson wrote some great articles on the biological process. I'm using nile Tilapia in my system, they are one of the heartiest fish to use as a beginner because they can handle extremes much better than other fish.
The only problem that I see with Tilapia is that they require warm water. That's not a problem down south, but up here in the great lakes area, that becomes more difficult because you have to heat the water to some extent.
For sure, I know trout are good in colder water and there are some growers that just use brim in their systems. I want to experiment with a compost heat exchanger for the tank this season. I definitely have to watch in North Alabama, It will get cold enough to kill these fish. If the water temp goes below 43F for too long it's gonna kill the fish.